State Considered Test for Efforts to Reshape Courts

Conservatives with ambitions to reshape courts across the country say results in Tennessee could give their efforts a burst of confidence, The New York Times reports. According to the paper, the Republican State Leadership Committee plans to spend at least $5 million on judicial races this year in places like North Carolina, where more than half of the state’s Supreme Court seats are on the ballot. Conservatives also are closely following races in Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. Matt Walter, president of the group, says in Tennessee they would be happy defeating just one justice, which would give Republicans a majority on the body of five. “Success on Election Day is winning one because that flips the complexion of the court,” Walter told the paper.